Helmet History of App State

The Appalachian State Mountaineers football program is the intercollegiate football team for Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. The Mountaineers compete in Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and are members of the Sun Belt Conference.

Appalachian State began playing organized football in 1928. The team competed independently before joining the North State Conference in 1931. The Mountaineers won their first conference championship in 1937, and they have won a total of 22 conference championships. App. State jumped to Division I-AA (now known as FCS) in 1972. The Mountaineers won three national championships in Division I-AA, in 2005, 2006, and 2007. They are the only team in North Carolina, to win an NCAA national championship in football.

Some of the top players from App State that made it into the NFL are:

• Demetrius McCray
• Akeem Davis-Gaither
• D. J. Smith
• Dexter Jackson
• D'Marco Jackson
• Nick Hampton
• Cooper Hodges
• Corey Lynch
• Leroy Howell

Appalachian State made the move to FBS in 2014. The Mountaineers have had some success in FBS, but they have yet to win a conference championship. They have played in two bowl games, losing to Ohio in the 2015 Camellia Bowl and to Middle Tennessee State in the 2019 Camellia Bowl.

Today's college football players charge down the field adorned in futuristic helmets, marvels of modern engineering designed to absorb impact and mitigate injuries. But rewind the clock a century, and you'd find players taking the field with little more than glorified leather skullcaps. This series delves into the fascinating evolution of college football helmets and head gear, a journey that mirrors not just the changing safety standards of the sport, but also its cultural and technological advancements.

Join us we embark on the individual hard shell histories of individual schools and how the design has progressed for each over the ages.